Prosper ISD Highlights

Choir Solo and Ensemble Success

On Saturday, February 2nd, 80 Prosper High School choir students participated in the UIL Solo and Ensemble Contest: 68 students competed with solos and 3 groups had ensembles.

Of the 68 solos, 51 of of them (75%) received 1st division ratings (superior) with 18 of those qualifying for Texas State Solo and Ensemble (TSSEC) in May. In the ensemble category, two of the three ensembles received superior ratings with one of the ensembles qualifying for TSSEC. Of all of the 71 performances by Prosper students, not a single solo or ensemble received below a 2nd division (excellent) rating... which is an outstanding feat for this contest!

Prosper ISD Calendar Announced

Posted by PISD Communications on 2/20/2019

The Prosper ISD school calendar for 2019-2020 has been approved. The new calendar is very similar to the 2018-2019 calendar. Both this year and for next year, Prosper ISD students will begin school on a Wednesday in the middle of August, this year on August 15th. Many of the student holidays and student/staff holidays are the same including a full week for Thanksgiving as well as two full weeks for Winter Break. Students begin the 2nd semester on January 7th whereas this year students returned on January 8th.

Remaining consistent, spring break is the 2nd week in March and the last day of school is in May. In 2019, the last day of school is May 24th while the 2019-2020 calendar has the last day of school in 2020 on May 22nd. This calendar gained a little more equity between the semesters with 1st semester being 84 days and 2nd semester being 88 days compared to an 83/89 split for this year.

PISD Athletics Receives Honors

Posted by PISD Communications on 2/5/2019

Prosper ISD Athletics has had several recognitions of late that we want to highlight.

Coach Erin Kauffman was recently named the National Federation of High Schools (NFHS) Texas Volleyball Coach of the Year. Coach Kauffman has been in education for nine (9) years and coaching for 13 years. Kauffman graduated from St. Louis University with her B.A in Political Science where she coached club volleyball while playing in college. She was then an Assistant Coach at Stephen F. Austin State University where she received her M.P.A in 2008. Kauffman was at Lovejoy from 2010 - 2013 before joining the Prosper Athletic staff in 2013. Her overall record is 227-57 at Prosper. Under her instruction, the Prosper team has made a deep playoff birth every year with two (2) visits to the State Championships and a State Championship win in 2017.

Madi Whitmire is a Senior at Prosper High School and an integral part of the PHS Varsity Volleyball team. Madi is currently ranked 6th in her class where she serves as the Student Council President. She has been named the Dallas Morning News Setter of the year twice. Additionally, she was a top six (6) finalist for the Davey O’Brien Award in DFW. The award was based upon involvement in a varsity sport, leadership, community service and academics. Madi received a $2500 scholarship through the program. The year Madi was chosen as a 1st Team Under Armour All American. This is a significant achievement as she is one (1) of only five (5) setters in the nation to make the top team. She is the ONLY athlete in DFW to be named to the team and only one (1) of 24 athletes in the nation to be named as a part of the team.

Prosper High School basketball player, Jordyn Oliver, has demonstrated repeatedly that she is a force with which to be reckoned. Jordyn most recently, Jordyn was nominated by Coach Rachal for the McDonald’s All-American game in Atlanta. There were over 800 nominations throughout the country. The McDonald’s All-American game is the most prestigious high school All-Star game in which a student can be nominated in basketball. Jordyn has signed a letter of intent to play at Baylor University in the fall, home of the Lady Bears, the #1 Women’s Basketball team in the country at this time.

Cade York, Prosper High School Senior, celebrated like royalty on January 3rd at the Under Armour All-American game. Cade was one of the few students in the country named to the team, the most prestigious team in high school competition. In late April, Cade committed to LSU. Ranked #2 in the nation in his position, he demonstrated the skill that got him the LSU jersey when he successfully kicked a 59-yard field goal in the game, the longest in game’s history. Additionally, the kick was five (5) yards longer than any kick by Cole Tracy, the existing LSU kicker.

Middle School Jazz All Region Success

Posted by PISD Communications on 2/5/2019

The Reynolds and Rogers Jazz Band students competed in the inaugural Region 24 Middle School All-Region Jazz Contest on January 24th. Our students competed against 24 middle schools throughout Prosper, Frisco, Little Elm and Plano. There were hundreds of students that participated in the audition and our Reynolds and Rogers students earned 11 spots of only 40 total students selected from the Region. These outstanding musicians were placed in one of the two All-Region Jazz Bands and performed in a clinic and concert on Saturday, January 26th.

Architecture Students Win Awards and Scholarship

Posted by PISD Communications on 2/5/2019

In late January, the annual Architecture, Construction and Engineering mentor program awards program was held. Prosper High School architecture students were a part of this evening. The program was a two month program the students attended every Thursday night with mentors from the architecture/construction/engineering fields. Prosper had five (5) students in the group of 90 students involved. The students were: Alan Weng, Edwin Delima, Brooks Feldker, Derek Holdge and Ariya George. The students were put into groups with other students from other schools and were asked to design a building as part of a New York City "new" city block.

Alan Weng's team won first place for their project video.

Derek Holdge's team won first place for their display board.

In addition to the category awards, there were also six (6) scholarships given out. One for $1,000, four for $5,000 and one ultimate winner of a $10,000 scholarship.

Prosper is very proud to report that Prosper High School Senior Ariya George was the winner of the $10,000 scholarship.

Art Student Receives Recognition

Posted by PISD Communications on 2/5/2019

Recently, Prosper High School Art teacher, Gina Mock, submitted some of her National Art Honor Society students’ work to an art competition atThe Juanita and Ralph Harvey School of Visual Arts at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, TX. Anna Vark sent a piece from her AP Drawing Class that was an award winner. The drawing is a work demonstrating extreme foreshortening with her friend Davyn. Anna was recognized at an awards ceremony in February and received her recognition and a monetary award for her work.

The Prosper ISD National Art Honor Society (NAHS) is well known for their philanthropic activities in the community. In mid-February, Prosper ISD and the PHS NAHS will host the UIL Regional VASE Art competition where students from around the area will compete with their art for recognition and advancement.

Prosper ISD Athletic Hall of Honor Press Release

Posted by PISD Communications on 1/31/2019

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASETitle: Prosper ISD Athletics Hall of Honor

January 31, 2019 - Prosper Independent School District is pleased to announce theinauguration of the Prosper ISD Athletics Hall of Honor. The Hall of Honor isdesigned to recognize and celebrate those athletes, coaches, supporters andteams who have laid the foundation for what Prosper ISD Athletics is today.Prosper has seen insurmountable successes in the past few years with multipleindividual and team State Championships contributing to winning the 5A UIL LoneStar Cup in 2018!The Hall of Honor committee is committed to inducting the best representativesof the district. After a nomination process available through March 8, 2019, thecommittee will deliberate and then recognize the first induction class, the class of2020, at the first varsity football game on Friday, September 6th in our newProsper ISD Stadium. Nominees will then be recognized at the Prosper ISD Hall ofHonor banquet in January. Nominees will be awarded from four categories:Athletes, Coaches, Supporters, & Teams.Nominations can be made on the Prosper ISD Athletics website or by picking up apaper form at the PHS Front Office or the PISD Administrative Offices.

EdCamp Education

Posted by PISD Communications on 1/30/2019

The heart of an educator is to be a lifelong learner. In recent years professional learning communities have taught educators that the answer is often “in the room.” Educators are just in need of a venue in which to ask and learn from others while sharing their own knowledge, experience and expertise with their colleagues.

To this end the Prosper ISD Instructional Technology (IT) department recently hosted an Edcamp. This is one of several the department has offered over the last couple of years and the third this year. Edcamps are called unconferences because there are no presentations, presentors or sessions to sign up for. Attendees list all of the topics they are interested in learning more about on the morning of Edcamp. Volunteers categorize these topics into sessions. After session topics are listed, attendees volunteer to facilitate or lead the discussion in each session. During the sessions, everyone in the room shares their questions and knowledge on the shared notes documents.

Edcamp provides educators of all experience levels the opportunity to both learn and take initiative to lead by sharing their knowledge and expertise with their colleagues. Approximately 150 Prosper educators took advantage of the opportunity in January learning about topics such as classroom management, instructional coaching, student feedback tools and many more. Educators come away excited and invigorated that they were able to help others and/or learn from their peers.

Transportation Road-eo

Posted by PISD Communications on 1/29/2019

People visiting Texas often expect to see all Texas citizens riding their horses and participating in their favorite pastimes, rodeos. It doesn’t take visitors long to learn that, while this applies to a portion of the population in Texas, it is far from the majority of Texans today. Prosper ISD transportation, however, has decided to stay true to the Texas heritage and participate in the Texas Association for Pupil Transportation (TAPT) road-eo to tighten up their driving and safety skills. The competition challenges drivers to “show off their precision driving skills and their knowledge of all things related to the school bus driver's job” according to the TAPT website.

Prosper drivers go through yearly training as well as updates throughout the school year to help ensure that they are cognizant of the most recent changes to student transportation laws and expectations. One Prosper ISD driver said it best that the transportation team “takes pride in ensuring that our kids are able to start and end their educational day safe and well cared for.”